Thread by @MikeDavis88

In less than 24 hours @PeacockTV will officially launch its much-anticipated streaming service in full. On it you will find hundreds of fantastic TV & movie options. Allow me a thread to tell you a little bit about the one called #LostSpeedways.

This show may have Dale Jr.'s face on it, but it was - and is - an underdog. (Have you seen the absolute beast-mode franchises #LostSpeedways will share space with? Oh, hi there @nbcsnl, @Yellowstone and #ReservoirDogs.) The line-up is robust, fantastic and humbling.

I also say underdog because the concept of exploring old, defunct race tracks wasn't the easiest sell at first. To put it mildly #LostSpeedways took some convincing. After all, who is interested in dwelling about things that are dead, gone and no longer relevant?

Turns out just about everyone.

You see, some of the things we hold closest are, in fact, no longer tangible. Maybe it was an experience. Maybe it was a person or place. Maybe it was an act of kindness.

Seriously take a moment and ask yourself what is that one thing in your life? Would you share it?

For me it's Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., site of my first baseball game. I can still see me, my dad and Grandaddy sitting on the 3rd-base side.

Or Birmingham International Raceway, a place I loved as a kid because my cousin, Henry Brook, raced there. He's now a HOF'er.

That is #LostSpeedways at its core -- an emotional connection to the past. For that reason I don't consider it a racing show. It's a show about people and places with an intriguing past told by people who cherish the past.

In these 8 episodes you will find grown men crying; a mayor making new promises; a two-time convicted felon giving a first-person account of an illegal moonshine still; a racer returning to the site of a victory for the first time in 50 years; and my favorite of all...

Two legendary racers sitting at a table and finally settling their differences about an incident that took place 34 years ago! (Producer's Note: Hey racecar drivers, for real, you should talk to each other more.)

#LostSpeedways includes a whole bunch of legendary drivers, including 3 current NASCAR Hall-of-Famers. (I say 'current' because I don't want you to suspect Dale Jr.'s upcoming induction is figured into that number. He doesn't count.)

#LostSpeedways features all sorts of venues in all sorts of conditions. In fact, we didn't use the word "abandoned" in the title because that would be inaccurate. Some of the speedways are repurposed, which is fascinating all in itself.

The list of venues we feature in #LostSpeedways were chosen carefully by a list of criteria. They had to be visually compelling and editorially sound. And they had to carry a remarkable intrigue that justified our going there. Also...

For those who assume the venues in #LostSpeedways are specifically NASCAR tracks, they're not. In the series we feature a little of everything, including a track up north that contributed to the boom of midget-car racing. (Wait till you see this place!)

Some of the things unearthed at these tracks were absolutely amazing! They ranged from push trucks to crashed cars to beer bottles consumed from spectators at the last event more than 50 years ago.

Now let me speak to the stories... Oh, the stories! Here's one that didn't make the cut so I don't mind sharing: Lynda Petty was about to deliver her third child. As you would expect, her husband Richard (he was good) drove her to the hospital. But then he left to go race!

After the race he drove back to a new baby and a pissed-off wife. "Did we have a boy or a girl?" he asked. Lynda snapped, "Go to the nursery and find out yourself." So he did.

Five minutes later he popped back in and asked Lynda, "Which one is ours? They all look the same!" 😂

That one didn't make the cut, which ought to tell you something about the ones that did. #LostSpeedways is full of rich stories.

Now a second on @MatthewDillner. I don't need to mention how important this project was to him - you already know. What you don't know is he sacrificed a lot. His family did, too. It's what you do for things you love. #LostSpeedways is that to Matthew.

I won't bore you with actual production hurdles and logistics dilemmas, but I will end with this here: when mapping #LostSpeedways nobody figured a pandemic to hit during the meat of the shoot schedule. Yet one did. And here we are on the eve of its originally-scheduled launch.

For that reason and more, I could not be more proud of my @DirtyMoMedia team. These are the people meant to make this show -- a show you can enjoy by subscribing to @PeacockTV at PeacockTV.com.

Tomorrow we launch.

Update at 7 AM Wednesday: We’ve launched.

#LostSpeedways